As the FCC’s rollback of net neutrality protections officially took effect on Monday, a broad coalition of free press and digital rights campaigners vowed to maintain pressure on members of Congress to either restore the federal rules “or prepare to face our wrath” in the November midterm elections.
Supporters of net neutrality rules—which require internet service providers (ISPs) to treat all online content equally—are aiming to convince House Speaker Paul Ryan and additional Republicans to support a Congressional Review Act (CRA) that would overturn the FCC’s party-line vote.
Last month, a few Senate Republicans joined with Democrats to pass the CRA, which was spearheaded by Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.).
“Now we’re fighting an uphill battle to get the House of Representatives to do the same,” explains the BattleforNet coalition, which includes Fight for the Future, Free Press, and Demand Progress. “It’s not going to be easy, but if the whole internet comes together to fight, we can win.”
“In the House, we’ll need 218 lawmakers to sign on to a ‘discharge petition’ in order to force a vote past leadership to the floor,” the coalition’s website outlines. “That means we’ll need to convince all the Democrats and about 25 Republicans to support the CRA. The clock is ticking—if the CRA resolution doesn’t get a vote this year, it dies when the new Congress comes into session.”
So today is not the end of #NetNeutrality. It’s the beginning of the most important battle yet.
CONTACT YOUR HOUSE REPS RIGHT NOW: https://t.co/xSJHbL8rxN
Or text BATTLE to 384-387 (msg & data rates apply, reply STOP to opt out)
Then spread the word, and get ready to fight. pic.twitter.com/7iun9KXRQf
— Fight for the Future (@fightfortheftr) June 11, 2018
Now that the repeal is in effect, ISPs “have the green light to begin degrading our access to the internet,” said former FCC commissioner and Common Cause special adviser Michael Copps. “Monopoly phone and cable companies will undoubtedly seek to maximize profits by favoring their own content over their competitors and creating fast lanes and slow lanes ultimately at the expense of consumers.”
With that in mind, Battle for the Net is promoting three ways constituents can urge their congressional representatives to back the discharge petition:
- flood them with calls and emails;
- schedule in-person events, protests, meetings, and canvassing;
- and encourage small business owners to sign a public petition pledging their support—because “in Washington, money talks,” and lawmakers recognize the “vital” role those owners play in their districts.
Trump-appointed FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, “a former Verizon lawyer, bucked the law, ignored public opinion and twisted the facts to make his ill-advised case for handing control of the internet to the anti-competitive cabal of giant phone and cable companies,” as Free Press’s Timothy Karr noted in an op-ed on Monday.
“Poll after poll after poll after poll shows large majorities of Republican voters in opposition to the FCC’s repeal,” Karr pointed out. “Any Republican seeking re-election in the fall can’t run from this polling data or from the people back home who demand real net neutrality.”
“People are pissed off. And rightly so. The gutting of net neutrality is a symbol of our broken democracy. It’s the worst of the worst that the D.C. swamp has to offer,” Fight for the Future’s Evan Greer said in a statement Monday.
“But it has sparked an unprecedented backlash from across the political spectrum, and internet users are coming out of the woodwork to fight tooth and nail in Congress, in the courts, and at the local and state level,” she continued. “This summer we’ll channel our anger productively and harness the power of the internet to mount an unprecedented district-by-district campaign to get Congress to do their job.”
“The internet is coming for net neutrality. There is nowhere to hide,” Greer concluded. “Any lawmaker, of any party, that fails to sign the discharge petition in support of the CRA will regret it come election time.”
Help us Prepare for Trump’s Day One
Trump is busy getting ready for Day One of his presidency – but so is Truthout.
Trump has made it no secret that he is planning a demolition-style attack on both specific communities and democracy as a whole, beginning on his first day in office. With over 25 executive orders and directives queued up for January 20, he’s promised to “launch the largest deportation program in American history,” roll back anti-discrimination protections for transgender students, and implement a “drill, drill, drill” approach to ramp up oil and gas extraction.
Organizations like Truthout are also being threatened by legislation like HR 9495, the “nonprofit killer bill” that would allow the Treasury Secretary to declare any nonprofit a “terrorist-supporting organization” and strip its tax-exempt status without due process. Progressive media like Truthout that has courageously focused on reporting on Israel’s genocide in Gaza are in the bill’s crosshairs.
As journalists, we have a responsibility to look at hard realities and communicate them to you. We hope that you, like us, can use this information to prepare for what’s to come.
And if you feel uncertain about what to do in the face of a second Trump administration, we invite you to be an indispensable part of Truthout’s preparations.
In addition to covering the widespread onslaught of draconian policy, we’re shoring up our resources for what might come next for progressive media: bad-faith lawsuits from far-right ghouls, legislation that seeks to strip us of our ability to receive tax-deductible donations, and further throttling of our reach on social media platforms owned by Trump’s sycophants.
We’re preparing right now for Trump’s Day One: building a brave coalition of movement media; reaching out to the activists, academics, and thinkers we trust to shine a light on the inner workings of authoritarianism; and planning to use journalism as a tool to equip movements to protect the people, lands, and principles most vulnerable to Trump’s destruction.
We urgently need your help to prepare. As you know, our December fundraiser is our most important of the year and will determine the scale of work we’ll be able to do in 2025. We’ve set two goals: to raise $140,000 in one-time donations and to add 1469 new monthly donors by midnight on December 31.
Today, we’re asking all of our readers to start a monthly donation or make a one-time donation – as a commitment to stand with us on day one of Trump’s presidency, and every day after that, as we produce journalism that combats authoritarianism, censorship, injustice, and misinformation. You’re an essential part of our future – please join the movement by making a tax-deductible donation today.
If you have the means to make a substantial gift, please dig deep during this critical time!
With gratitude and resolve,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy